Scientists Discover the Secret of Popcorn's Popability

Yes, those unpopped kernels of corn can break a tooth. But for most
of us, they're just an annoying disappointment as the edible bits dwindle before
the movie is over.

Not all corn pops well. A new study found that out of 14 varieties of popcorn,
the number of unpopped kernels ranged from 4 percent to a staggering 47 percent.

More important, the study may reveal how to make better popcorn.

"We think the secret to maximizing 'pop-ability' is found in the special
chemistry of the corn kernel," says Bruce Hamaker, a food chemist at Purdue
University. "We now have a better understanding of the science behind why unpopped
kernels occur and how we can use this knowledge to go about reducing their number."

Big business

This is obviously an important pursuit. Americans consume 17 billion quarts
of popped popcorn every year, according to an industry group called the Popcorn
Board. That's 54 quarts per man, woman and child.

American farmers produce
more than 300 million tons of corn a year, nearly half the world's production.

Hamaker's team has uncovered the crystalline structure in popcorn that appears
to govern whether it pops or not.

The key seems to be the varying chemical structure of the outer hull. As the
kernels heat up, the hull acts like a pressure cooker to lock moisture inside.
Pressure builds until the kernel ruptures, turning it inside out.

Good poppers have a stronger hull with a highly ordered crystalline structure,
the investigation found.

Coming to your microwave

Hamaker and his colleagues say future research should be able to determine
how to transfer the best hull properties to other corn kernels, perhaps through
selective breeding, genetic engineering, or even by simply adding chemicals
to modify the hulls.

Improved microwave popcorn could be on grocery shelves within five years, Hamaker
said.

The study, funded by Purdue, will be published July 11 in the American Chemical
Society's journal BioMacromolecules.

Robert Roy Britt

Rob was a writer and editor at Space.com starting in 1999. He served as managing editor of Live Science at its launch in 2004. He is now Chief Content Officer overseeing media properties for the sites’ parent company, Purch. Prior to joining the company, Rob was an editor at The Star-Ledger in New Jersey, and in 1998 he was founder and editor of the science news website ExploreZone. He has a journalism degree from Humboldt State University in California.